TERRY O'Halloran is a country footballing legend. He's won league medals and best and fairests despite his hatred of training and love of Friday night drinking sessions. Few have a better footballing resume than the former Howlong champion. He spoke to The Border Mail's BRETT KOHLHAGEN this week.
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BK: It's been 18 months since you were inducted into the Hume league's Hall of Fame. Your speech still gets spoken about.
TO: It was a pretty big night (laughs).
BK: Even though you are a laid-back character, it must have been a big honour?
TO: It's nice to be recognised but you don't think about it when you are playing a game of footy. You think about winning the game. After a lot of years you think more about what you achieved. I've never had anything to do with committees, I was just a straight-out footballer who liked a beer.
BK: You were the youngest of 11 O'Halloran kids (Matt, Frank, Peter (dec), Kevin, Mary, Kate, Terry, Christine, Trish (dec), Jack and Tom) and all seven boys played football for Howlong. They would have been interesting times growing up on a farm.
TO: They were. It was very competitive on the farm. We didn't have much money or anything back then and I learnt how to kick by stuffing a newspaper into the ball where the bladder used to be.
BK: You have a theory about where you got your pace don't you?
TO: My brothers would come home with friends and they used to try and grease you up and shear you and things like that. They were always mucking around and being the youngest I copped it a bit from the boys. One day we were running through a crop and they stripped me off and started chasing me. The stubble cut my nether region open as it was about that height. That wasn't much fun I can tell you. I reckon that's why I was fairly quick.
BK: You had your share of injuries.
TO: Heaps of them. I've had punctured lungs, a rib just missed my heart, virtually every finger has been broken and two broken ankles. There was one time after a game I went out drinking and dancing and the next morning my ankle was bloody sore. I had it checked out and it was broken. You just got on with it back then though.
BK: What was the worst injury you suffered?
TO: I went out to Rand with Wayne Koehler when Rick O'Connell was coaching. I was his assistant and 10 minutes into the second game 'Coke' (Koehler) is yelling 'kick it, kick it' as two players were running straight at me. Anyway I got cleaned up and bones were left sticking out of my leg. I was laying on the ground and they gave me a stick to chew on to help the pain. They called an ambulance and it seemed to take forever before I was on the way to Griffith as it was the closest hospital. The pain was bloody terrible and I was screaming out so the driver pulled over to see what was wrong. He had a look and found out there wasn't any gas left in the tank to help with the pain. I couldn't believe it. Ian Kreutzberger took over as the driver while the ambulance officer stayed in the back with me. It was a long trip.
BK: How did you get on after that?
TO: I stayed in hospital for a couple of days before they took me back to Albury. As we were coming through Narrandera or Lockhart I asked the ambo driver to pull over so I could get some smokes at the bottle shop. They pulled in and then halfway home the driver stopped and I had a smoke sitting in the back of the ambulance on the side of the road. It got worse though as 'Coke' was supposed to take my wallet and wedding ring home from the football. He'd left them on the car roof when he drove off and they couldn't be found. It wasn't a great couple of days.
BK: You won three Azzi medals in the Hume league and should have won an Archie Dennis Medal in the Coreen league. What happened there?
TO: I played for Rand and was out at Coreen for the league vote count and they were reading out the votes. It was pretty casual and when they read out T. O'Halloran late everyone said you've won it and that was all good. But in the constitution of the league it says you have to have a full name or the player's jumper number on the vote card and this round didn't. I lost by two votes after winning all the media awards and Rand's best and fairest that year. Rod Lavis beat me by a couple I think.
BK: Were you dirty?
TO: I wasn't on the day but I was a bit as time went on.
BK: You've been very unlucky I'd say
TO: I've had worse luck than that though. One other time I got a call saying I'd won a brand new Valiant Chrysler in a raffle. I didn't have a car back then and was hitch-hiking to Albury to get to TAFE as a bricklayer. I couldn't believe it. Anyway I shouted every bugger for hours and hours at the Howlong pub that night. Then I got a phone call saying there had been a mistake and Tom (O'Halloran) had actually won it. I was p***ed off. It cost me a fortune.
BK: I'm told you never enjoyed footy training
TO: I hated it. The only reason I went down was to have a few beers with the boys.
BK: You told a story at the Hall of Fame dinner about trying to miss some laps while at Wodonga Demons.
TO: When I went to Wodonga Demons in 1984 with Jack (O'Halloran) it was bullshit. All this running. Craig Godde and I hated training so one night we stood behind the scoreboard and hid as the lights were no good. We thought it was funny for a while but soon got caught out and had to run the laps around the outside of the ground.
BK: Who were the best players you came across?
I got a call saying I'd won a brand new Valiant Chrysler in a raffle. I didn't have a car back then and was hitch-hiking to Albury to get to TAFE as a bricklayer. I couldn't believe it. Anyway I shouted every bugger for hours and hours at the Howlong pub that night. Then I got a phone call saying there had been a mistake and Tom (O'Halloran) had actually won it. It cost me a fortune.
TO: Johnny Brunner was probably the hardest I've played on. I played against him once in an inter-league game. He was strong. You could grab him in the wet and he'd just drag you along. Jack was obviously good and so was Tony Hughes. Craig Godde was a good player too.
BK: You won three Azzi medals, six club best and fairests at Howlong and one at Rand and Wodonga Demons. You weren't bad yourself either.
TO: I was pretty competitive. When the ball was there, I tried to get it. If you got knocked over, you got up. That's how it was.
BK: Any regrets about not playing in the Ovens and Murray?
TO: I get asked that a lot. I probably should have had a crack to be honest. I remember when I was 25 or 26 and Wodonga approached me. I said why would I when I was on the same money, which wasn't much, at Howlong. I said I mightn't make it anyway. They said they would write a letter guaranteeing me every senior game even if I wasn't getting a kick. They just wanted me to be in a side to get a hard ball as they had a few woosies back then.
BK: So that was as close as you got to having a crack at it?
TO: Probably nearly every club, except for North Albury, approached me at some time. Corowa used to ask me to play when Howlong had the bye. I trained with Wangaratta once with my brothers but got home at 1am and that was it. I didn't like the training enough. They would run kilometre after kilometre. Jack liked it because he was a fitness freak but I only liked running when I saw the ball during the match.
BK: You must be proud of the way your nephew Shaun Daly has gone about his business at Albury?
TO: He's a great kid. He's switched on and team orientated. He plays at centre half-back and the ruck when he should be in the middle but he does that because that's where the team needs him. He probably could have won more Morris medals for that reason. Wherever he's been he's won best and fairests. I think he's won 11. Everyone loves him.
BK: You played a lot of inter-league footy didn't you?
TO: I enjoyed it. I played for the Hume, Tallangatta and Coreen leagues and had some great times. I got sick of it towards the end though when all of my mates were going away fishing and drinking. I was a bit silly and went to the pub at 10am before my last game for the Hume league. We were playing up at Kiewa and I was p***ed. We were having a drink on the way to the game. I went out in the first quarter and didn't do much so they took me off the ground. I rested up and came back on in the last quarter and got a few kicks. I used to go back to Des Kennedy's after inter-league games to have a few wines with him. They were good days.
BK: How would you compare the Hume and Tallangatta leagues?
TO: Hume was quicker and the Tallangatta league was tougher and dirtier. They made you earn a kick in the Tallangatta league. There were some dirty buggers getting around back then. Some of Wodonga Demons' games against Mitta got out of hand.
BK: You coached Bathurst to two premierships at the end of your career. What sort of coach were you?
TO: S**thouse. There were only six sides in the comp and they kept at me and at me to play and eventually I did. We got a couple of flags which was good. I wasn't a great coach though, I just tried to lead by getting a kick.
IN OTHER NEWS:
BK: You liked a drink on a Friday night when you played didn't you?
TO: I did. They barred drinking at Howlong so we used to get a car load and go out to Balldale on a Friday night. That was OK as long as you weren't seen in Howlong. I used to get three quarters cut which was OK because I was a brick layer back then and pretty fit so I could get away with it.
BK: How long did this go on for?
TO: A fair while, it was good fun. I actually went out to the Balldale pub the other week for a look when it reopened.
BK: Howlong's 1977 premiership must be a good memory?
TO: For sure. We beat Burrumbuttock that year. It was all about playing with your mates back then and that's why I stayed at Howlong for so long. Mateship was the biggest thing for me.
BK: Thanks for your time, Terry
TO: No worries